Day 1, October 25th, 2071. It has been 2 years and 267 days since the end of World War III… I have just found a notebook and decided to keep a log of my life from this day forward. My friend Joachim, everyone calls him Newclear, and I, Joshua, but people call me Josh, are sitting around a fire we built about 5 minutes ago. Newclear was in the Special Ops team along with me and 3 other people we already lost in action. We are down to only 42 MREs and 4 canteens full of water. Earth has been demolished. Newclear and I know of no place to take refuge. We have seen only 3 people here in New York City, and all have told us that there is a great city in Washington D.C., where there may be a civilization. I must sleep now, as I have no idea what is to come of the future.

Day 2, October 26th, 2071. 2 years and 268 days since the nuclear explosions were set across the world… As I awoke, I felt a sharp pain in my stomach. I instantly knew I needed something to eat or I may as well call myself dead, as I would have no energy to fend off any people looking to mug us. So we are down to 39 MREs and 3 canteens of water. We need to find some supplies fast. We have two Desert Eagles and 150 rounds for them. We have the clothes we wear, and 2 police vests we raided from a police department. At night, we take turns on a guard shift while the other sleeps. Speaking of sleeping, I must put down my pen now as my shift has just ended and it’s my turn to get rest.

Day 3, October 29th, 2071. 2 years and 271 days since the military we trusted so much made the worst decision in the history of the world… The past couple of days Newclear and I have been covering ground so I haven‘t had time to write. We found a store and decided to raid it. There were 2 bikes inside, not very good bikes, but bikes nonetheless. And so we set out. We made it about 2 kilometers south west, heading toward D.C, before Newclear’s bike broke down, so he had to ride on my back pegs. We did this for 3 days, stopping at night in different stores, markets, and other buildings for shelter at night. The second night, there was a man that came in. He started fighting with me, and made Newclear wake up. Newclear had no choice but to shoot, or it would risk one of us getting injured. An injury would only hold us back.

Day 4, October 31st, 2071. 2 years and 273 days since those STUPID people at the pentagon made those orders. What was Heady thinking! They should have thought of the Nuclear Warfare consequences! But for now I will put that aside… This morning I went looking around in the market we stayed in last night, and found some candy. No candy corn, no chewy stuff. Just your normal candy bars. So I grabbed them and woke up Newclear by pegging him right in the forehead with one. He appreciated that so much, that he got up right there and tackled me, just like in the old days, back before WWIII. Boy, did that get my happiness up. It was like we were kids again playing football for our high school. Nothing huge happened today, but we are going to need to cover a lot of ground until we reach our destination.

Day 5, November 12th, 2071. 2 years and 285 days since I watched and stared, as the nuclear bomb was sent flying away from the United States. What a site that was. It was like the fourth of July, in the middle of September… Newclear and I are still heading to D.C., and have beat down a few people on the way. Our inventory of food, water, and weapons are slowly growing. We also have raided quite a few stores. I had my first Twinkie in who knows how long. It was like heaven in this hell we call earth. The closer we get the more people we are seeing. We are almost to Pennsylvania. After looking at a map, we figured out the fastest route, and are traveling along that route. Hopefully, we don’t encounter too many problems on the way. I must go now because I need to rest up.

Day 6, November 13th, 2071. 2 years and 286 days since I have seen any of my team other than Newclear. That is, until today… Newclear and I saw a store and decided to go in, and see what was in it. Inside, a person came charging at us with a gun. It wasn’t until 15 seconds of having our hands behind our head that we noticed that the gun was in fact, a weapon X. Knowing that those weapons were only assigned to our team, and after 15 seconds of the man screaming at us, I knew who it was. I could recognize his voice anywhere. It was the leader of our team, Michael, but we all call him DudeJustice. No one knows how he got that name, but he did and it stuck. I told him it was us, and he didn’t believe us at first… what a surprise. But after studying us for a while he paused. He froze, dead silent; a single tear trickled from his left eye. It was the first time I have ever seen DudeJustice cry. First time anyone in our team has seen him cry. He explained that he thought we had all died, and we explained the same. We stayed up talking. It is my turn to take the guard shift so I have to stop writing now.

Day 7, November 25th, 2071. 2 years and 298 days since we lost contact with each other. Not knowing if we were alive or not. Not knowing if we would ever see one another again. But we are slowly getting our Squad back together… Today, we met up with the only girl on the squadron. Don’t think just because she is a girl she isn’t tough. Other than DudeJustice, she is the toughest, roughest person on our squad. She always led us to victory when DJ wasn’t there to help us run and gun. It was like she knew the enemies plans before they started. Ducky… She sure is a strong person. No one knows her real name. I don’t even think she technically exists. Her birth certificate, along with her family, burned in a fire when she was only 12. The state checked the hospital she was born at, and they had no records of her. She was filled with so much anger and sadness that six years later she boarded a ship and headed over to the team’s training ground. When she got there, she picked up her first gun, and blasted it. It made her feel good. So she continued to do it, and made it on to the team in a record time. As we traveled for those 12 days, we continued to raid, mug, and survive the best we could. Then today we heard some people fighting. I heard a girl screaming so instinct said help the women, and that’s what I did. Under a bridge were 4 guys attacking Ducky furiously. Ducky fought them off the best she could, but 4 against one aren’t good odds for anyone. I ran down, elbowed one in the back, and saw it was Ducky they were mugging. I was so mad, I couldn’t control myself. I was smashing noses into my knee legs, kicking below the belt. It is something I regret. If I could redo it, I would have just got Ducky out of there. But there are no redos in life, or there would be no nuclear war. When she saw us, she smiled. No jumping, no excitement, just a mere smile. With good news, comes bad news. Ducky found the bodies of the other person in our team. While disappointed at the news we bandaged her up the best we could. Now I need some rest, so off to bed for me.

Day 8, December 3rd, 2071. 2 years, and 306 days since I felt the nuclear radiation impale my body with its rays. Since I lost the sight in my right eye from cancer cells… We have finally made it to Pennsylvania. Only have to go through Pennsylvania and we make it to D.C. My hopes are rising the closer we get. And as we get closer and closer we are seeing more and more people. Now with the 4 of us, Ducky, DJ, Newclear, and I are one person away to completing the team. Unfortunately that one person is dead. I know that if I ever see the president I am going to deck him hard in the face with these brass knuckles I found. Nothing much has happened in the past eight days. So now I am going to sleep.

Day 9, December 15th, 2071. 2 years, and 318 days since I have felt safe. Today I did not feel safe at all. We were attacked by 5 people today… Running low on ammo for our 2 guns we either had to fight with our fists and scrap metal we see laying around, or run leaving our supplies behind. We decided to stay. Bad mistake. Shortly after knocking 2 of them out Newclear was hit and got his arm cut bad. We had to get in a defensive position around him since he couldn’t fight back. It was three on three and they had the home court advantage. DJ quickly uppercut one below his chin, while ducky round house kicked another across the face, knocking a couple teeth out. I got hit in the gut and then kneed the guy in his thigh, giving him a dead leg which made him collapse. Then the other 2 teamed on ducky so DJ and I jumped in the help her. Bad mistake. That left Newclear wide open, and the one I dropped took the opportunity by slamming Newclear’s face into the ground. Bad mistake. That bugged me. Me and Newclear were child buddies, so I did all I could to protect him. I won’t say anymore about that. It seems everyday there is more and more blood piling on my hands. I must sleep now, because I am still in shock and need to relax.

Day 10, December 28th, 2071. 2 years and 331 days since I could have a Christmas day with my family. Since I had even seen them. They were killed by the nuclear radiation when the bombs hit us… 3 days ago was Christmas, a time for joy and peace. It wasn’t that bad, we found a frozen turkey, and a chocolate lush pie in a store and cooked those bad boys up. Good dinner really. We have been getting a lot of travel in. I think we will make it to D.C. in about 30-40 days. Along the way in our travels we have seen many different militias formed by the thugs and scum of the U.S. and we were quick to pass through their territory, not trying to cause trouble. We have met some good people on the way, but there was one militia ruled by the worst of the worst. They ruled the biggest, meanest, and cruelest looking militia we have seen so far. Boy did they love to pick fights. It seems I have bad handwriting today, as my right shoulder was injured by one of their goons. Let’s just say we it was an unfair fight. They had 6 men to each of our 1. So like normal we did what we were trained for 7 years to do when retreating, run and gun. I was shot in the shoulder and Newclear, Ducky, and DJ weren’t injured at all. I fear those two generals of the militia may be following us with a few of their troops. I’ll never forget their names or faces. They were the meanest looking people I have ever seen… Their militia call them Dark Lord Hades, and Mystic Lady.

Day 11, January 3rd, 2072. 2 years and 336 days since the world wasn’t in ruins. Why would the United States do such a thing? It’s completely cruel to use nuclear warfare. And what if it backfired and blew us up. I don’t understand the United States anymore… I have this strange feeling we are being followed. My arm has scabbed over, and the stitches are gone from it. We met a guy Thomas and his friend Cain. They were awesome people. Back before the war started they apparently owned a website, and made some games or something like that. It was strange, but was also nice to see people who didn’t try to beat us up and steal our stuff. They too, were headed to D.C. but we didn’t want to be held behind by them, so we didn’t bring them along. I probably won’t be able to write until around the 10th. Our plan when we get there is to take refuge, and then start our own militia for a bit of extra protection. Other than that we will be living day by day. I don’t have much more to write about so I am going to go to bed.

Day 12, January 13th, 2072. 2 years and 346 days since I have had a birthday party with friends and family. Since I have had a good birthday… But today is my birthday; I have a cake I stole from a store, 3 great friends, and a Wal-Mart too have a birthday party in. So the past 10 days we have been getting close to D.C. I plan on being there in 20-30 days. My will to go there is rising more and more by the day. Today is a recouping day. We did no traveling today, and no looting. We just chilled, listened to a radio we found, played some Call of Duty on a ps6 and TV we found, and hung out. Until 3:30ish PM. Then Newclear got up and started singing happy birthday. Ducky and DJ chimed in as well. After they finished I grabbed some cake, took a big bite, and threw some at Ducky. Then we all had a crazy food fight. After that we grabbed some Nerf dart guns, and played some shooting games. Today was a blast, and I am pooped so I am going to go to sleep.

Day 13, January 24th, 2072. 2 years and 357 days since I have seen any part of my family. Since I’ve seen my wife, son, dad, mom, grandma, grandpa, the list goes on and on and you get the point… the world has become a mess. It’s like seeing your room of dirty laundry, and toys lying all over the floor expand to cover the world. Buildings looking like they were miniature twin towers. Mothers and fathers. They’re children. Everyone trying to survive like the Africans had to back in 2010. No source of good water other than tapping into a pipe line and hoping the water isn’t rusty. No way of getting food other than hoping of finding something in a store that most likely has been raided by hundreds, possibly thousands of people. Families deserve better… everyone deserves better. I’m starting to see people with their spirit of fighting for life being demolished. They are not headed toward D.C. but instead they are walking away. I am also losing that faith in staying alive as I see more and more walking away from out destination. I must press on, and I need energy and strength to do that so I need to go to sleep now.

Day 14, January 28th, 2072. 2 years and 361 days since I went to anything to do with church… Today Newclear, DJ, Ducky and I walked into a building searching for a few bullets, maybe some stuff to eat, or even some weights to do a quick workout and get our blood pumping through us some more. What we found in the building was a church. Believe or not, there are people who decide instead of killing and stealing from people they want to go to church, and still after this whole thing happened, be good people. That surprised me more than anything in about the past 3 years. So I thought I would try doing the same thing. We attended that Sunday service, and it was just your ordinary church. After about 10 minutes of church ending, we left and headed on our way. We plan on making it to D.C. in less than 5 days. I think this nuclear radiation is getting to my head, because last night I was severely depressed.

Day 15, February 1st, 2072. It has been 3 years now, after World War 3 has ended, and I have lost hope in finding civilization. I have nearly no will to live at the time because of my extreme disappointment and neither does anyone else I am with. If there is anyone who reads this in the future… please share my next few sentences with other people… As we traveled the last 4 days of our journey to D.C. we gave lost and gained the will to press on. Today, I don’t know what my next move will be. The only move I know to make on this wretched earth is to rebuild the United States from this horrible state it is in. We made it to D.C. and saw nothing but the white house burned to the ground and people rioting outside of the white house. We stood there watching, not able to say a word because of our throats being choked up. I might as well burn this book so no one has to read this dreadful story. I spent days and weeks and months traveling down the United States for no reason. But I was trained for this, and I will rebirth the United States. It may take years, decades, generations, but time isn’t an issue anymore. If you read this, and the U.S. isn’t restored to it’s old self, please for the love of God, I beg you to restore it to its former glory.

Day 1, July 16th, 2582. It has been 510 years since Joshua wrote about his story. I, Jasmine, am a trained special ops soldier in the United States Military. This story is now the highest treasured document in the world, worth more than the Declaration of Independence. The reason it is so valuable is because it is a reminder to all Americans to never give up hope when all is corrupt. The president, James, descendant of Michael, or DJ, has agreed to let me write in this. So these are my last sentences in this journal, and I would to remind you, that when the world throws everything bad that it possibly can, do not give up. No matter what the cost is. Joshua died on the night of May 6th, 2128 in his sleep. He was at the age of 83. He died a peaceful death in his sleep and I couldn’t think of a greater way to hear my family go.